Elkhart, IL 62634 Frost Dates
62634, near Elkhart, IL: the frost window
Around 04/20 is the usual last spring frost, about 235 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 179 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Elkhart in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Elkhart's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Elkhart's last frost
04/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Elkhart against the rest of the dataset
Elkhart's growing season runs about 179 days, ranking 25,455 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 1,061 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 62634: the frost range, on how to read the range around Elkhart's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Elkhart can differ from the 62634 normal.